There is little doubt that as Coventry City head towards the halfway stage of the season the club needs to strengthen in key positions to save the Sky Blues from a disastrous campaign.

Mark Venus’s men sit fourth bottom in the League One relegation zone having taken just 19 points from their first 20 games and having experienced some bruising encounters to confidence in all competitions – out-classed 6-1 by Norwich City in the EFL Cup, hammered 4-1 by Oxford United in the league and, more recently, battered 4-0 by League Two Cambridge United in the FA Cup.

There have been encouraging performances as well but as City fast approach the January transfer window it’s clear that the club has to act to address the glaring deficiencies in a side lacking vital experience, physicality and goals.

Here we look at four positions that need to be filled in January to save City’s season:

Centre-half:

Easier said than done, of course, as former boss Tony Mowbray knows to his cost after missing out on six dominant central defenders over the summer. It was one of the key positions that wasn’t fully addressed in the close season, finding an adequate replacement for the likes of Reda Johnson and Ben Turner who can dominate in both boxes.

City need a big and ugly old fashioned centre-back who can cope with the physical nature of the division and will die for the cause. Can City go back for Burnley’s Kevin Long – in whom they were rumoured to be interested in the summer?

He’s highly-rated but currently can’t get a game or even a place on the bench for the Premier League Clarets. He’s 6ft 2, 26 years old and been on loan at Barnsley and MK Dons in recent seasons.

Kevin Long wins a header for Burnley

Central midfielder:

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City desperately need another player of Chris McCann’s experience and ability. The 29-year-old has been limited to just nine league games due to injuries and is heading off to his new life in Atlanta in the New Year.

Ben Stevenson and Gael Bigirimana have done well in the main while the influential Andy Rose continues to be troubled by injury problems and Vlad Gadzhev is yet to stamp his mark.

City are crying out for a bit of class to put his foot on the ball and take games by the scruff of the neck to use all his nous and experience to lift and drive those around him – someone to come in and do what Dennis Wise did for the Sky Blues in 2006.

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Forward:

Liverpool's Ryan Kent has shone since joining Sky Blues on loan

It’s staring us all in the face, City need a bit of raw but ready-to-go talent from the Premier League; another Ryan Kent or Jacob Murphy that can come in on loan, hit the ground running and make a difference. With all due respect to Andre Wright and Dan Agyei, who’ll no doubt go on to have decent careers, but they’re a bit too hit-and-miss at this stage of their development.

There must be players out there in a development squad in the upper two tiers ready to come in and rip it up in League One; a player with and end product to add to blistering pace and skill.

Striker/centre-forward:

Oh for another Adam Armstrong! Not easy to find, let alone convince to come but there are strikers out there. Will they go back to Villa for Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, have Arsenal or Chelsea got anyone in their 23s ready to be unleashed on men’s football?

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy

City, we’re told, have a bit of budget left to play with so maybe it’s worth trawling League Two for an in-form front man and making their club an offer they can’t refuse.

The reality is that a nominal fee these days, say between £30-50grand – the sort of fee City are understood to have paid Leyton Orient for Romain Vincelot – might just be enough to prize away a Luke Berry or Uche Ikpeazu from Cambridge United.

Berry has 12 goals from 23 games so far and, as he showed on Sunday, is bang on form and, at 24, still at a good age to get better. At 21 Ikpeazu is another developing player but he has all the physical attributes to mix it up in the lower leagues and prove a real handful for defenders.